Monday, April 27, 2015

Hey everyone!! This week has been sweet! Lots of hard work and lots of fun. There has been this member family, the Abu family, who we have been working with a lot and one of the daughters was pregnant. Well this last Wednesday night she gave birth! That was sweet! It was funny to see thought as the tensions at that household were very high on Wednesday evening, but everyone was so happy on Thursday. They don't stay at the hospital very long here as they were only there for about probably 10 hours... but it was sweet! They haven't named it yet as it is tradition not to name the baby until it is at least a week old, but its Twi name, as they name according to the day born is Maame Ekua. It was cool to see. Another sweet thing that happened on Wednesday was that we had our Ward Council in the presence of an area seventy, Elder Davies. That was cool although our ward does seem to have some issues. It was sweet though and it was very good to receive some instruction from him on how to help the ward function better. Then on Friday was my companion's birthday! We had fun... we had agreed with this one man to go and help him at his farm but things ended up falling through. We still had a good time. It was a long good day as we didn't get back until 9:30 and ECG took power even though it should have been on. They have a schedule here where they have power for 24 hours and then they take it away for 12 hours but recently it has been more like 24 hours off and 12 hours on... oh well. It is good though. So instead of making him brownies of on Friday we ended up making them Saturday night which worked out. Sunday was a sweet day as well. We had one investigator who came to church, a Brother Kojo. He is such a sweet man and has a strong desire to join the church. The only problem is that he is staying with a woman who is very opposed to the church but he is solid. We have a few other people who are doing very well and I am excited for the upcoming months. One thing that I enjoyed was the sacrament again this week. I have seen how as you take more time to think about it that it will help you feel the spirit more. One thing that stood out to me was in the hymn we sung, number 191, it says "A broken law to satisfy." We have broken the laws of God, but Jesus Christ has satisfied those laws and the demands of justice. We are saved through him.

Well... I love you all and I hope that you all have an amazing week! Take care!!!!

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Hey everyone! This week was sweet! On Wednesday we had our interviews with President Stevenson and that was sweet. He tried to advise me on what I should do when I go home, but he somehow confused me a little more. I think that I will just leave it to when I get home to decide. But it was good.... we were instructed by the Zone Leader and by the Assistants on working more with members and the recent converts and less actives as that is how the most success will come. It was really good but the best part was that they let us watch Meet the Mormons. That was a really good documentary that had some good stories about different members of the church. It was really weird to see everything from back home though. It was sweet though. One of the other cool things that we have been able to do this week is that we have been working with one of the families in the ward quite a bit. Two of them are very active members but three are less active. We have been talking to them and trying to get them to strengthen their testimonies. One of the less active members even came to church this week. But it has sparked a lot of conversions even just between Elder Ripplinger and I. We have been talking about some of the things that we want with life... even families. We see so many families that are disconnected here in Ghana and that completely affects everyone involved. Family units are one of the most important things in this gospel. They can hold us together and help us to go forward.

One thing that I have been able to do a lot this week is to read my patriarchal blessing and that is something that I would recommend everyone to do. There is such power within and it has been able to help me greatly.

Another thing that I pondered deeply this week was as I partook of the sacrament I felt the spirit deeply. I pondered "Am I worthy to partake of the sacrament" So many times we just go on with life and we are just in the swing of things. Maybe we aren't doing anything bad, but are we striving to do better and on that constant quest of improvement and repentance. We must make sure that we are on that quest. I hope that all made sense.

The work here in Assin Foso is going well. We have one investigator who is doing very, Kofi. He doesn't speak any English but is a sweet man. He is a farmer. It is cool. We have to have a lot of help up here with translations as only about half of the investigators that we have speak English. Twi is the language here and since I spent the last 18 months in Fante land it is a little different but at least they are very similar languages so it isn't ridiculously hard to go back and forth. But it has been fun! I love the people here!

Well... I love you all and I hope that you all have a great week! Hope that you enjoy the pictures I sent! I had to catch up since it had been awhile since I last sent them! LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Hey everyone! This week has been pretty good. Rainy season is starting to kick in as it has rained four of the last five days now, but that is all part of the work. It is nice because it cools everything down while it is raining, but when the sun comes back out it is just as blistering hot and more humid. The sad thing is that I am getting cold here too much when it rains. I guess that I have adapted to the Ghanaian weather too much. I had one of the members up here in Foso making fun of me because I was saying that I was too cold and it was one of the warmer days that week! I even had goose bumps. But it is all good. Not too much all happened this week. One of my investigators from Green Hill was baptized on Saturday, Leticia. She was the wife of a recent convert that we had been teaching and had all prepared for baptism. Sunday was pretty bad in way of attendance for church especially since it was our ward conference. It was an out right down-pour Sunday morning and so most of the people took that as an excuse of not to come to church. Only about maybe 60% of the people who came the previous week came yesterday. :/ But it was good! Afterwards we had two massive plates of jollof rice... MASSIVE.... it hurt my stomach but when they insist that you eat, you eat! Well I get to have my last interview with President this week before my exit interview... I am excited to be able to speak with him. It is always an enjoyable time! Well I love you all! Yebeshia!

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Hello all! This week has been a wonderful week. It is always hard to say good-bye especially to those that you love but Tuesday was full of saying good-byes and making sure that the sisters would have a smooth transition coming into Green Hill. It was good though... we had a little enjoyment from some of the members on Tuesday... lots of nice food. :) But then Wednesday was the crazy transfer day... took about two hours before I was up here in Assin Foso. I am here with Elder Ripplinger who is from West Jordan, Utah. He is a cool guy... he is taller than I and was a basketball player in high school. I think that we will have a good time up here in Foso together. We cover Assin Foso First Ward, just the two of us.... first time it is like that for me since my training. But Wednesday we went out into the area and met some people. My companion has only been here for six weeks so one of my big goals is to get us to know the members real well and be able to work with them effectively. That has been a bit of this week. It has been really hot here and none of the investigators were free either because they were doing things for Easter so we did a lot of contacting as well this weekend. But it was fun... I have really been enjoying everything.

Well... the network has been terrible and I have to go so have a great week!! Love you all!!